Trading Summary (January 07, 2004)

The Toronto Stock Exchange dropped another 16.57 points to end at 8,388 on Wednesday, as mining stocks suffered a second straight day of losses as most metal futures continued lower. The gold index shed another 6.57 points, or 2.8%, to 225.98 while the diversified miners plummeted 9.26 points, or nearly 4%, to finish at 227.13.

Constellation Copper managed to keep out of the red, tacking on a penny, or about 9%, to make 12, after it said it has agreed to an all-share acquisition of the Hinoba-an copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry deposit on Negros Island in the Philippines, from privately held Hinoba Holdings. The company saw more than 23.5 million shares traded, enough to rank as the nation’s busiest miner.

South American Gold & Copper did exactly the same, but with just more than 2.8 million shares traded. The company recently raised $3.5 million by privately placing 49.88 million units at 7 apiece to help restart the Pimenton gold-copper mine in Chile. Elsewhere among the base metal miners, Noranda, the nation’s biggest copper producer, fell 84 to $20.51, and Ivanhoe Mines did the same to end at $10.08, after Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said it would begin to gradually sell off some 200,000 tonnes of stockpiled copper.

Zinc miner Breakwater Resources returned much of its recent gains slipping 6, or 7.5%, to 74.

The country’s major gold producers set the pace with losses across the board. Placer Dome saw nearly 3 million shares fall 67 to $23.32 to lead the way, Kinross Gold dropped 44 to $10.16 and Barrick Gold fell 38 to $29.27.